European Parliament constituency

Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) are elected by the population of the member states of the European Union (EU). The European Electoral Act 2002 allows member states the choice to allocate electoral subdivisions or constituencies (French: circonscriptions électorales; German: Wahlkreise; Italian: circoscrizioni elettorali; Swedish: valkretsar) for the European Parliament elections in several different ways.[1]

Most EU countries operate a single national constituency which elects MEPs for the whole country.[1] Belgium and Ireland are each subdivided into constituencies, with electoral results calculated separately in each constituency.[1] Germany, Italy and Poland are each subdivided into electoral districts, with the number of representatives determined at the national level after each election in proportion to the votes cast in each district.[1]

In Germany, political parties are entitled to present lists of candidates either at Länder or national level.

Currently, all constituencies use various forms of proportional representation (PR), except the single-seat German-speaking electoral college in Belgium, which uses first-past-the-post. The parliament as a whole is not PR, because seats are apportioned between member states by degressive proportionality.

List of constituencies

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Current constituencies
Constituency Member State Area/Community Seats Seats country total Population, 2012[2] (thousands) Area[3] (km2)
At elec­tion Cur­rent Cur­rent Total Per cur. seat Total Per cur. seat
Austria Austria (Full country) 18 19 19 8,430 444 83,879 4,415
Dutch-speaking electoral college Belgium Flemish Community 12 12 21 6,389 532 13,521 1,127
French-speaking electoral college French Community of Belgium 8 8 4,663 583 16,152 2,019
German-speaking electoral college German-speaking Community of Belgium 1 1 77 77 854 854
Bulgaria Bulgaria (Full country) 17 17 17 7,306 430 110,900 6,524
Croatia Croatia (Full country) 11 12 12 4,269 356 56,594 4,716
Cyprus Cyprus (Full country) 6 6 6 864 144 9,251 1,542
Czech Republic Czech Republic (Full country) 21 21 21 10,511 501 78,866 3,756
Denmark Denmark (Full country) 13 14 14 5,592 399 42,916 3,065
Estonia Estonia (Full country) 6 7 7 1,323 189 45,227 6,461
Finland Finland (Full country) 13 14 14 5,414 387 338,435 24,174
France France (Full country) 74 79 79 66,233 838 656,412 8,309
Germany Germany Full country, parties can opt for separate lists in the 16 Bundesländer 96 96 96 81,932 853 357,162 3,720
Greece Greece (Full country) 21 21 21 11,093 528 131,957 6,284
Hungary Hungary (Full country) 21 21 21 9,920 472 93,024 4,430
Dublin Ireland Dublin and counties Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown, Fingal and South Dublin 3 4 14 1,271 318 921 230
Midlands–North-West Counties Cavan, Donegal, Galway, Kildare, Leitrim, Longford, Louth, Mayo, Meath, Monaghan, Roscommon, Sligo and Westmeath; and the city of Galway 4 5 1,635 409 37,282 9,321
South Counties Carlow, Clare, Cork, Kilkenny, Kerry, Laois, Limerick, Offaly, Tipperary, Waterford, Wexford and Wicklow; and the cities of Cork, Limerick and Waterford 4 5 1,675 335 31,935 6,387
North-West Italy Aosta Valley, Liguria, Lombardy, Piedmont 20 20 76 15,807 790 57,928 2,896
North-East Emilia-Romagna, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, Veneto 14 15 11,482 765 62,327 4,155
Central Latium, Marche, Tuscany, Umbria 14 15 11,637 776 58,084 3,872
Southern Abruzzo, Apulia, Basilicata, Calabria, Campania, Molise 17 18 13,975 776 73,800 4,100
Islands Sardinia, Sicily 8 8 6,639 830 49,932 6,242
Latvia Latvia (Full country) 8 8 8 2,034 254 64,573 8,072
Lithuania Lithuania (Full country) 11 11 11 2,988 272 65,300 5,936
Luxembourg Luxembourg (Full country) 6 6 6 531 88 2,586 431
Malta Malta (Full country) 6 6 6 420 70 316 53
Netherlands Netherlands (Full country) 26 29 29 16,755 578 41,540 1,432
Pomeranian Poland Pomeranian Voivodeship 3 3 52 2,287 762 18,310 6,103
Kuyavian-Pomeranian Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship 2 2 2,097 1,049 17,972 8,986
Podlaskie and Warmian-Masurian Podlaskie and Warmian-Masurian Voivodeships 3 3 2,651 884 44,360 14,787
Warsaw City of Warsaw and part of the Masovian Voivodeship[note 1] 6 6 2,795 466 11,205 1,868
Masovian The rest of the Masovian Voivodeship[note 2] 3 3 2,499 833 24,353 8,118
Łódź Łódź Voivodeship 3 3 2,529 843 18,219 6,073
Greater Poland Greater Poland Voivodeship 5 5 3,350 670 15,183 3,037
Lublin Lublin Voivodeship 3 3 2,169 732 25,122 8,374
Subcarpathian Subcarpathian Voivodeship 3 3 2,129 710 17,846 5,949
Lesser Poland and Świętokrzyskie Lesser Poland and Świętokrzyskie Voivodeships 5 6 4,735 789 41,537 6,923
Silesian Silesian Voivodeship 7 7 4,621 660 12,333 1,762
Lower Silesian and Opole Lower Silesian and Opole Voivodeships 4 4 3,928 982 29,359 7,340
Lubusz and West Pomeranian Lubusz and West Pomeranian Voivodeships 4 4 2,745 686 36,880 9,220
Portugal Portugal (Full country) 21 21 21 10,515 501 92,212 4,391
Romania Romania (Full country) 32 33 33 21,385 648 238,391 7,224
Slovakia Slovakia (Full country) 13 14 14 5,408 386 49,036 3,503
Slovenia Slovenia (Full country) 8 8 8 2,057 257 20,273 2,534
Spain Spain (Full country) 54 59 59 46,773 793 505,991 8,576
Sweden Sweden (Full country) 20 21 21 9,519 453 438,576 20,885
Total 751 705 705 445,056 631 4,238,831 6,013

Former constituencies

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Constituencies for the 2009 election
Constituencies for the 2014 election
Constituencies for the 2019 election

Denmark

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Denmark had a separate constituency for Greenland until 1985, when the autonomous territory withdrew from the EEC (later expanded to become the EU).

France

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Constituencies of France 2004-2019

Between 2004 and 2019, France was divided into 8 constituencies:

Ireland

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Ireland's constituencies have changed several times:

United Kingdom

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Constituencies of the United Kingdom 1999-2020

Before the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the EU, there was a 3-member single transferable vote constituency covering Northern Ireland. The constituencies covering England, Scotland, and Wales changed several times:

Proposed pan-European constituency

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On May 3, 2022, the European Parliament passed (323 votes to 262) a "legislative resolution on the reform of European electoral law".[4] Among the proposals is the creation of a 28-member pan-Union constituency elected by party-list proportional representation on a list separate from elections for regional constituencies.[5] However in July 2023 the reference to it was removed by the European Council.[6]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d Oelbermann, Kai-Friederike; Palomares, Antonio; Pukelsheim, Friedrich (2010). "The 2009 European Parliament Elections: From Votes to Seats in 27 Ways" (PDF). European Electoral Studies. 5 (1): 148–182. Archived (PDF) from the original on 15 September 2013.
  2. ^ Eurostat (14 March 2014). "Average annual population (1000) by NUTS 2 region". Retrieved 26 May 2014.
  3. ^ Eurostat (19 May 2014). "Total area and land area by NUTS 2 region". Retrieved 26 May 2014.
  4. ^ https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/TA-9-2022-0129_EN.html See Article 15 Union-wide constituency
  5. ^ Kurmayer, Nikolaus J. (3 May 2022). "European Parliament agrees position on EU election law overhaul". www.euractiv.com. Retrieved 3 May 2022.
  6. ^ "European Parliament set to grow by 15 MEPs in 2024". POLITICO. 28 July 2023. Retrieved 30 August 2023.
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